Saturday, August 19, 2006

Breakfast with Dr. Smith

Dr. Kirk R Smith. What do you say about the doyen of Indoor Air Pollution research? I am, for a change, speechless. Also, nervous, apprehensive, edgy, tense and uneasy. I haven't slept properly. I was awake all night wondering what I am going to discuss with him. I have just stepped into the world which he has created painstakingly and over a period of 27 years. I am but a small ant in his universe. And yet he has very generously agreed to meet me. What should I expect to hear from him? Will I be too awe-struck? Later on, will I remember anything from the conversation that I will have with him? I don't know. Well, in case you people are wondering why I am so flabbergasted at the prospect of meeting this person, check out http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/page.asp?id=2

He is to Indoor Air Pollution work what Einstein was to Photoelectric effect. If it weren't for Einstein, we wouldn't have has printers and photocopying "xerox" machines today. Similarly, we owe a lot to Dr. Smith for our current knowledge of the health effects of indoor air pollution. And I am about to meet him. The rendezvous is at 0800hrs at the Guest House. Wish me luck, people.